As part of our continued efforts to promote small businesses in the Lower Florida Keys, Stock Island Times released 3 mobile apps on January 1, 2018. These include Local Life - Guide to Stock Island, Local Life - Lower Keys Adventure Guide and Local Life - Key West Golf Club. All apps are available at the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Stock Island Times is committed to affordable advertising for local businesses. Contact us at 305-707-4024 to learn about all the special deals we have for businesses in Stock Island and the Lower Keys.

Conch IT has joined forces with Local LIfe, Inc., in Virginia Beach, VA, to publish the Local Life - Virginia Beach mobile app. The app provides quick access to all the events, discounts, adventures, lodging, dining and fun in that bustling beach city. Check out the Local Life - Virginia Beach app at https://locallifevb.com. You can download the app at the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store

Beginning March 1, 2017, Conch IT will begin publication of the Stock Island Times, a free digital news magazine for the residents of Stock Island and Key Haven. Our island is changing rapidly. Stock Island has historically been a working class community. Since the mid 90s, when Northern Stock Island was annexed into Key West to make way for the Key West Golf Club, it has been obvious that more development was on the way.

Now, with Oceans Edge Key West Hotel & Marina, a 175-room hotel located on Peninsular Road open for business, and the 100-room Hotel Key West at Stock Island, which is located on nearby Shrimp Road, set to open later this Spring, it is fair to say that the development boom has begun. In addition to these projects, construction on the 43 home gated community at Key Haven is well under way. In the midst of all this development we are also watching the nearly $ 8 Million renovation of Bernstein Park. Quite a bit of change for this rock we call home.

Stock Island, long a home for working class Key West residents, as well as fisherman, shrimp boats, boat yards and a variety of mechanics, craftsmen and other generally useful folk, is at a crossroads. How will this development be absorbed? How will our new neighbors and visitors interact with us? How will we preserve the history, heritage and contributions of the community that was Stock Island? How will we blend these elements with the new Stock Island that will certainly emerge from all this change.

Stock Island is not alone in this sea of change. Our entire world is awash in it. Information is more plentiful and comes at us more quickly than ever before. it can be easy to get lost in this unending flow. Digital Media and Social Media are updated constantly with items both silly and serious. Where can you turn to get the information that really affects you, in a timely manner?

We have begun publishing Stock Island Times specifically to provide a place for all of us to share the news, events, concerns, hopes and dreams of the residents of all the Stock Island and Key Haven communities. Our goals include providing a single source for accessing information from all the organizations that inhabit our island, monitoring and reporting the changes that will affect all of us, offering a place for all our residents to express their opinions and providing an affordable place for our many island businesses to promote their goods and services.

We believe the things that matter most are the things closest to home. Because of that we will focus on the people who live and work in Stock Island and Key Haven. We will bring you their stories and promote their businesses. We invite all of you to submit your stories, photos, videos, questions, opinions and anything else that you think will add value, entertainment and learning to our Stock Island experience. I love Stock Island...hope you do too!